Sore throats, sores, and other irritations in mouth and pharynx are common ailments that can cause pain. Although a variety of pharmaceuticals are available, both prescription and over-the-counter, to treat the pain, these pharmaceuticals can be sometimes difficult to administer to patients who are unwilling and/or unable to take conventional oral medications. For example, children and adults may have difficulty swallowing tablets or capsules. Patients may resist taking medicine in liquid form due to the medicine's unpleasant taste or texture or difficulty in swallowing. Moreover, there may be a significant time delay, sometimes twenty minutes or longer, between ingesting many oral medications and the onset of a therapeutic effect because the medications must be absorbed into the blood stream from the digestive system after the medicine is swallowed.
Lozenges, which may consist of one or more pharmaceuticals into a candy carrier, have been used to deliver medications, either topically within the buccal cavity of the patient or by swallowing the pharmaceutical after it has dissolved in saliva. Generally, each lozenge includes a quantity of one or more pharmaceuticals sufficient to deliver an effective dose to the average patient when the entire lozenge is consumed. However, many patients are affected differently by that dose, with some being more sensitive and some being less sensitive to the effects. Further, lozenges for administering medicine may be inappropriate in some circumstances because there is a chance a patient may choke on the lozenge.
Lollipops have been used to deliver pharmaceuticals to patients. In particular, lollipops containing the potent, short-acting narcotic fentanyl have been approved by the FDA for the treatment of severe pain, such as might be encountered in conjunction with surgical and other medical procedures, from cancer, and from opportunistic infections associated with HIV infection.